Carlos Acosta ou l’histoire d’un grand écart

Abstract

Today, not yet fifty years old, Carlos Acosta is considered by dance specialists to be a legend of Cuban ballet. How did a child from an underprivileged social background, who dreamed of playing football like Pelé and was known from an early age as a fruit thief, a brawler, a liar, a mischief-maker –in short, a would-be thug– become the star dancer who is adulated the world over? How did he break with social reproduction, that is, the process of parents passing on the same social positions to their children? How did he become a « transclass », to use the neologism coined in 2014 by Chantal Jaquet? Based on the autobiography Sin mirar atrás, which inspired the biopic Yuli by Spanish director Icíar Bollaín, this article aims to shed light on three characteristics of upward social mobility: the making of the « transclass », its fragility, as well as the idea of « reversed donation » or payment of a social debt.

Keywords

• Sin mirar atrás
• Yuli
• dance
• transclass